Undefeated Oilers get some awful news on the injury front

Earlier today the Edmonton Oilers announced that starting goaltender Mike Smith has been placed on Injured Reserve (IR) and has subsequently recalled goaltender Stuart Skinner from the AHL's Bakersfield Condors.

Check it out:

That obviously does not bode well for the currently undefeated Oilers.

Say what you will about Smith and his best days being behind him, he's been an absolute rock for the Oilers early in the season and even going back to last season. The 39 year old has a .920 save percentage in three starts this season and he put up an absolutely sparkling .923 save percentage in 32 games for the team last season. Again, at 39 years old he's probably not going to turn back the clock 10 years and put himself in Vezina Trophy consideration as the NHL's best goaltender, but he has exceeded all expectations in Edmonton and clearly losing him will be a big blow to this team.  

Of course, the Oilers have 1B netminder Mikko Koskinen to turn to, which isn't a terrible alternative but the issue with Koskinen is you're never quite sure what you're going to get on a game to game basis. One night Koskinen looks like Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek rolled into one, the next night he looks like... well... Mikko Koskinen...

The 33 year old Koskinen has yet to play a game this season, but he went just 13-13-0 in 26 starts for the Oilers last season and posted a sub-par 3.17 goals against average and .899 save percentage. That's not exactly awe inspiring, especially when you're a team like the Oilers. With time running out for Ken Holland to prove that he can build a contender around superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Koskinen isn't exactly the guy you want to turn to in desperation.

Then again, Holland's offseason defensive additions of Duncan Keith and Cody Ceci seem to have worked out and the team will likely tighten up defensively even more with Smith on the IR. The great equalizer, of course, is McDavid though. If he continues to put up a two point per game rate, there's no stopping this team.